My heart has been so full in recent weeks! Our Stripped Free team has been privileged to get to meet some amazing new women and to begin to develop friendships with them. Starting new relationships can be hard. You don’t know them and they don’t know you. It takes a while to develop trust and trust must be earned. We’re in the middle of that stage right now with many of our new friends. We don’t blame each other for not trusting fully at first. We’ve all been hurt and had our hearts broken by people that were supposed to love us and the sting of that lasts a while. It takes time to get over betrayal, even if the person who betrayed you is no longer in your life. So we’re patient with each other. We take it a step at a time and that’s good. I love these new relationships. They’re rich and they’re honest while at the same time heartbreaking and frustrating. They challenge me and that’s good too.

The other reason my heart is full is because of the generosity of so many in this wonderful city. One of the things I’ve been learning through this ministry is that almost every woman who works in this industry has kids. Many of them work where they do BECAUSE of their kids. They are doing the best they know how to provide for the ones they love most. For many, they see no other option if they want to feed their families. We wanted to help them provide, so we did two back to school drives for the dancers and their kids in the three clubs we go into. We were overwhelmed at the outpouring of love from people from our churches, Mount Pleasant Christian Church in Greenwood and Heartland Church on the north side of Indianapolis. And then there were the other organizations that decided to lend a helping hand with supplies: Good Samaritan Network in Fishers, Teachers’ Treasures in Indianapolis and the Officer David Moore Food Pantry. Overall we gave away 137 backpacks full of school supplies and more food than I could keep track of. WOW!!! And most importantly, we were able to let these women and their kids know, once again, that someone cares about them and that they are loved by God and us. The joy on the faces of the kids as they picked out their backpacks is something I will never forget. I think Jesus was standing right there with us smiling over each and every one of those precious children. His light was shining brightly that day! Thank you to everyone who was involved and gave so much of their time and resources. Being His hands and feet is a lot of work, but boy is it worth it!

The Stripped Free Back To School Volunteer Crew – So Grateful For These Ladies!

We are already experiencing new doors that have been opened with some of the dancers because of these events. Please keep praying for us. That we will continue to earn the trust of these new friends and that their hearts will be open to us and most importantly to Jesus, the great Lover of their souls. We couldn’t do this without each of you. Thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers!! Jesus Frees!!

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What a week this has been and it’s only Tuesday! I could barely wait to update you on some of the exciting things taking place with Stripped Free. God is working, my friends! There is no doubt about it. Let me start at the beginning……

On Sunday morning I was standing in the hallway at my church when a text came in from, Stef, my ministry partner. It simply read, “She just accepted Jesus.” What??? I started smiling and could barely contain my joy! Stef and I attend different churches. Many of you have read my previous blog posts about our precious friend from the clubs that received Christ as her Savior during Easter weekend at my church, Mount Pleasant Christian Church. Over the last three weeks we have another friend who has been attending with Stef at Heartland Church. We had been praying that she would begin to realize just how loved she is by the God of the universe and that her heart would be open to Him. When I got the text from Stef I stood there in utter amazement at my great big God. He did it again and I praise Him for it!

I then ran to the lobby to find my friend that got saved on Easter to tell her the good news. I found her and relayed the exciting information and she stood there and burst into tears…tears of joy. She said, “I’m just so happy for her!” We stood there and hugged and let the moment really sink in. May those moments never become “old hat.” May they never lose their eternal significance in our eyes. May we always be in a state of spiritual wonder when we hear, once again, God’s love broke through to save and redeem.

The story, however, doesn’t end there. None of our stories ever do. That moment of spiritual transformation is just the beginning for all of us, but our new sister in Christ had a physical transformation to go through as well. As many dancers do, she had a number of tattoos, but there was one in particular that stood out. It ran across the top of her chest and read, “I Don’t Forgive You.” We recently found out the permanent declaration was aimed at her father. Over the last few weeks Stef had been talking with her about God and forgiveness. She seemed to be finding her way to a place of forgiveness and was open to making a change. All of her tattoos tell a story, but this one had a lot of pain attached to it and was in a very visible place. Stef told her she had a friend who was a tattoo artist and suggested they talk to him to see if he could change it into something beautiful. After all, that’s what God does for all of us, isn’t it? He takes something painful and ugly and makes it beautiful in each of our lives. Only He can do that!

They met with the artist and came up with a plan and she loved it, so the physical transformation of her painful past began on Monday. The statement of “I Don’t Forgive You” was turned into a crown of thorns with the word “Forgiven” in the middle. It should be complete in a few weeks. I had the awesome privilege of holding her hand during the actual process and reading the crucifixion story to her so she would understand the significance of the crown that would be permanently emblazoned on her chest. It was a moment I will never forget.

That night at our weekly Bible study, Stef and I joined our two new friends and watched as hugs were exchanged and a precious gift was given from one to the other as a way of celebrating new life. Words of joy and encouragement were shared. At one point in the evening, one friend looked at the other and said, “Now let me tell you about the power of prayer!” Stef and I caught each other’s eye and just smiled from ear to ear as we watched one tell of the great miracles God has already done in her life and assuring the other that great things await her as well.

These women are hungry to know everything about this Jesus that saved them and loves them so deeply. They are excited about how He’s changed their lives already. Their futures are limitless and their eternities are secured. Wow. I stand in awe of my God because He is good, He cares about every detail and He loves with a depth and passion that I will never truly understand this side of Heaven. All I know to do is to love Him in return and be forever grateful.